Not As Expected

Tomoya nodded, and led the way to the door of his old home. He hesitated, then knocked on the door. After several long moments, it was answered by a man with brown hair and glasses, looking over Tomoya and Samantha curiously. "Yes, can I help you?"

Now, Tomoya wasn't sure whether he was happy or angry. He was happy to see the father he'd once known. The one that had been loving. On the other hand, he was angry at this man for being happy, considering what he'd one day do, as well as just residual anger toward his father. It was hard not to punch him.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha wasn't really sure what to say for once, but Tomoya obviously didn't either and wasn't really in the mind too. So she did the best she could. "Hello. My name is Samantha and this is my husband Tomoya. I know this might sound strange, but is Atsuko in?"

But there had to be something she could use, something definite. DNA never lies and if not that she should be able to feel..something.

"The reason I ask, is because Tomoya believes he's related to them and we've discovered this only about recently."

The man was silent for a moment, looking at Tomoya skeptically, then blinked. "Oh... yeah, I can see a resemblance... unfortunately, Atsuko is out at the moment. She took our daughter to the park nearby five minutes ago. You can wait here, or I guess go there."

'....Daughter?'

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha thought about it a bit longer, then nodded. "All right, we'll go see. Thank you." It surprised her like it did Tomoya that they had a daughter, so it meant this version of Tomoya was born female this time around. They would have to go see for themselves.

Tomoya was silent as they walked to the part, and completely tensed up when they arrived. Already nearby, a beautiful young woman was playfully chasing her young daughter around, who was laughing happily. The young girl was apparently a bit of a tomboy, and the only thing that gave her away as a girl was her voice, hair down to her shoulders, and more delicate features. Tomoya's eyes showed pain for a moment. He remembered playing with his mother like this...

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

It seemed Tomoya was taking a bit of a back seat again, but Samantha could hardly blame him. She really didn't know what to herself..she was lost. For the first time in a while, Samantha didn't have the slightest clue of what to do or say but she had to..try.

Samantha sighed mentally, then, she made her way over once the two had stopped running around for a moment. "Excuse me." She said politely, to get her attention. "Sorry for bothering you, but we just need a moment of your time. I'm Samantha and this is my husband Tomoya. We found out recently he's related to you but you weren't there at home. We met your husband just moments ago."

Atsuko looked at Samantha curiously for a moment, then looked at Tomoya. She immediately felt a familiarity with him, and smiled, holding out her hand. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." Tomoya swallowed hard, and reached out to take her hand. Atsuko then suddenly had him on his knees, arm pinned behind his back, his eyes wide. "Alright, who are you two? I made sure nobody could track me, not even Vargus, so how did you find me, and why are you lying? When you said you recently found out, I could sense it, so what's the deal?"

"Gah... geeze, you're strong... alright, we didn't recently find out! I've always known, but I was too scared to talk to you about it, okay?" After a pause, Atsuko let him up, but kept a grip on him.

"That doesn't explain how you tracked me down."

"I... didn't have to..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha decided honesty was the best policy, even if she didn't believe them then it was best to say it then just lies. "Tomoya knows of you because he comes from another realm, an alternate realm similar to this one." That wasn't out of place but the next. "In this other realm, he knows you because he's born in your family. ..He's your son there. The reason for the lie was simply because we weren't sure you would believe us. Not without more direct proof."

Atsuko blinked, surprised, then immediately made Tomoya look her directly in the eyes. After a long moment, where she paused and looked him over, she smacked him over the head, then immediately pulled him into a hug, greatly confusing him. "Um... Atsuko?"

"What, not gonna call me 'Mom'?" Apparently she believed them...

"Uh, okay... M-mom..."

"Hee, good boy." She pulled away, smiling brightly. "Geeze, you look... just like I imagined my son looking, if a bit older. If I had a son. Funny that when I pictured a daughter, it looked like a twin to what I imagined of my son... how old are you?"

"...T-Twenty-seven..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Atsuko looked at Samantha, and grinned. "He felt familiar to me at first, even though I knew I'd never seen him before. Then when you said he was my son, and I looked at him closely... I just, see it, I guess. I feel a bond there. Here." She put a hand over her heart, smiling. "I just know that if anything happened to him, someone I have never met before, it would be like losing my daughter Tomo. What other explanation than that he's my son? Speaking of..." Atsuko turned to the young girl, who was watching them curiously, and smiled. "Tomo, come here for a second!"

Tomoya watched with a weird sort of fascination as a younger, female version of himself came over. "Alright, Tomo, meet Tomoya. He's... uh, your uncle! Right, your uncle. Say hello, sweety." Tomo looked up at Tomoya, and slowly smiled happily.

"Hi, Uncle Tomoya!" The instant she said that, Tomoya felt a pain in his chest, smiled a bit sadly. He remembered when he'd been this happy as a child. The fact that, normally, it would shortly end rather painfully, hit him hard.

"Hey, Tomo..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha smiled warmly at 'Tomo'. She definitely looked like what Tomoya would look like if he had born a female, she was an adorable little thing. "Nice to meet you Tomo. I'm Samantha and his wife so I guess that makes me your aunt." She didn't have children of her own, so she could only relate so much of what Atsuko had said, but it made sense in her mind.

At Samantha's words, Atsuko recalled that this woman was apparently her daughter-in-law, and suddenly hugged her as well, whispering to her. "I want to get to know you as well, you know. You're my daughter-in-law, after all." She pulled away, smiling. "Anyway, we all have alot to talk about, I guess. Though I suppose I should put Tomo down for a nap first..."

"Aww, Mama, I don't wanna take a nap... can I at least play some more?" Atsuko thought about it, then smiled.

"Alright, we can play a bit more first. Tomoya, Samantha, could you two wait at home for me?"

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha smiled again but nodded. "Will do. We'll just wait until you're done here with Tomo. Come on Tomoya." She gently took her husband's hand and began walking away. When they made a bit of distance, she talked again. "I have to admit, that went far better then I would have thought possible."

Samantha, along with Tomoya eventually ended up staying in the Okazaki home after telling what happened. Now they simply had to wait for Atsuko to show up, she was looking forward to getting to know the woman that was Tomoya's mother and even more so since normally, she'd never have the chance. Maybe she would get a chance to learn more about the family history too, but that could wait.

Tomoya was rather tense, being around his father, even if it wasn't the father he'd known since his mother's death. Still, he remained calm. They hadn't told Naoyuki that Tomoya was his son. Tomoya had given the story of being Atsuko's older brother. Even if Naoyuki believed it, Tomoya didn't want the man to start treating him like a son. He couldn't take it if he did; he'd end up hitting the man.

When Atsuko returned, she hurried Tomo to bed. Then she came over to speak with Tomoya and Samantha... however, she noticed quickly that Tomoya was uncomfortable around Naoyuki, which bothered her. "Naoyuki, dear, could you go out to the store? The grocery list is on the table. I would have gone myself, but I want to talk to my brother, obviously."

Samantha shook her head and sighed. "The short and long of it, in the time Tomoya comes from things are hard. In his realm, you die of a car crash. After that, Naoyuki becomes distant. Eventually, he and Tomoya get into a fight which hurts his shoulder. After that, Naoyuki treats Tomoya better but he treats him like a stranger in his own house. Your death pretty broke the man..from everything Tomoya told me."

She glanced at Tomoya. "..In his time, its actually a man named Levante that he's see's more as a father. That hasn't really changed since coming here. But that's the main reason we're here, to prevent you from dying."

Atsuko, by the end of this, had a stern look on her face. "...Tomoya? Is this true? Did Naoyuki do that?" Tomoya grit his teeth, and nodded. "...How badly did he hurt your shoulder?"

"...He dislocated it. I refused to come out of my room after, so it... healed badly. I can't raise that arm above my shoulder. I couldn't play basketball after that..." Tomoya's voice was noticably hurt at the end. At this, Atsuko's next words carried surprising venom.

"So he ruined our son's dreams too..." Tomoya blinked, looking up. At his look, Atsuko looked away. "I used to be one of the most well known street fighters. Tournaments too. I intended to enter the World Martial Arts Tournament, try my chances, once I turned twenty. Naoyuki told me he couldn't stand to see me 'get hurt' so told me he didn't want me to fight anymore. I haven't trained since you were born... that's probably why a car crash would be able to kill me, actually... oh, wait... I mean..." She seemed to realize what she'd just said, and was immediately worried. For good reason.

"You mean it's his fault!? His fault that you died!? It's his fault you died, and he treated me like it was mine!?"

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha winced, but she wasn't sure what to say. Calm down? How..could she tell him to calm down so suddenly after hearing that? She just hoped things didn't get out of hand, Tomo still cared about her father after all and would be hurt if her dad got hurt too badly.

Before Tomoya could get too loud, Atsuko suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Tomoya, be quiet, now!" Surprisingly, he obeyed, immediately shutting up, though obviously still angry. "You seem to have my temper... so I need you to calm down, because as disgusted with him as I am at this moment, it would be wrong to hurt him. The man you know is not the man I know. He never will be, if my death is prevented. On top of that, how would you react, if you saw your father suddenly bruised and hurt? Think of Tomo before you do something rash. I know you're upset, but doing what I know you are thinking of doing is the wrong thing to do."

"...Y-yeah... geeze, I forgot how good you were at talking me down when I got upset..." Tomoya seemed to be much, much calmer. The only time Samantha would have seen him calm down this fast was when she herself was the one attempting to do so.

"Well of course. Mother's, wives, and daughters are the ones who are the best at calming the men in their lives down. It's just how it is." Atsuko smiled softly, and sighed. "I'm sure Samantha agree's with me. Anyway, it's shocking to learn that I'm supposed to die sometime in the future. I'm going to guess that the reason you've shown up now is because it's soon?"

Tomoya nodded. "Yeah... I don't know the exact date, but it's sometime around here. Things were kind of a blur in the months surrounding it for me..." He quited down, and didn't notice when Atsuko moved to sit next to him, pulling him into her arms, comforting him. She also reached out, taking Samantha's hand, giving her a sad smile.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha didn't mind Atsuko taking her hand, she was actually grateful for it. She also had beaten her to the punch about calming Tomoya down, but that didn't matter as long as he was calm. She was right. They couldn't take their anger out on him, not when he wasn't truly the same person Tomoya knew in his time.

Still, there were some questions. "So..what now?" Samantha didn't seem to direct it at anyone in particular. it just seemed like a general statement.

Atsuko seemed to think that over. "Honestly... I'm not sure. Since you came to prevent my death, and I obviously don't want to die, why don't you tell me what you do know of my death?"

"Well... all I really know for sure is that you were driving, and I was in the passenger seat. You did... something when we were just about to be hit. You grabbed me, a think. And then everything just sort of... ended. Next thing I knew, I was in the hospital, with few injuries... and you were dead. I think you used Ki to shield me..."

"Hm... so all we really know, is that I was driving, with you in the car, and it was sometime soon. Well, I'm not really sure how to plan on avoiding it, unless I just... don't ever drive for several months? Only thing I can... think of..." She frowned suddenly, and Tomoya could feel hr tense, and pulled away.

"...What is it?"

"It.. it's probably nothing... but... before you and Samantha showed up, I'd intended to go grocery shopping around now, and take Tomo with me... and now I have a bad feeling..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Samantha frowned slightly at this. "I don't put as much stock into gut feelings..but I've learned if you do feel strong enough about something, there usually is a reason for it. If you have a bad feeling its a good thing we came when we did. Though we can't be sure if it really is today."

Something occured to her..what about Atsuko's husband? He had been out..

Atsuko looked quite worried though. "The problem is that because I instead stayed here to talk to you, I asked Naoyuki to go to the store instead..." And that was when she heard the sirens, and color drained from her face. "No... I... I have to check... I have to see..." She stood and hurried to the door, and as soon as she opened it, she disappeared with speed that utterly shocked Tomoya.

"What the... was she always that fast?"

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara